Tooled up with an arsenal of drums, guitar, synth bass and loop pedals, Cairo Knife Fight pack a riff-driven punch that has seen them hold their own against the title holders they’ve shared stages with – names like Foo Fighters, Them Crooked Vultures and Queens of the Stone Age.The collective back-story of drummer/main vocalist Nick Gaffaney and guitarist/loop guru Aaron Tokona reads like a brag sheet of some of New Zealand’s finest musicians including Anika Moa, Fat Freddy’s Drop and Dimmer, as well as Tokona’s own former contenders, rock outfit Weta. It’s as a duo however that they’ve blazed their very own trail, finding new ground between the power of Led Zeppelin and the fearlessness of Radiohead.